Mildred Griswold Opportunity Scholarship

This award was established to honor the late Mrs. Mildred Griswold, a teacher from Clyde Park, Montana. Griswold was instrumental in providing access to higher education for a student who otherwise would not have attended Eastern Montana College (now MSU Billings).

Alice Taylor was a student at Clyde Park High School and, as the valedictorian of her class of five, earned a scholarship from the state’s university system. Though financial support was available for Alice’s education, managing the logistics to attend college was beyond Alice’s reach. That’s when Mrs. Griswold stepped in. She knew that Alice and her three sisters were raised by their father alone. Following his death when Alice was 12, the sisters were split up among different families. Alice did not have a network of people to support her future success, so Mrs. Griswold took it upon herself to enroll Alice in college. The two traveled to Billings where they stayed at the region’s finest hotel, The Northern Hotel. The next morning, Mrs. Griswold took Alice to EMC to register the young woman for teacher training courses in the fall quarter. Mrs. Griswold also arranged for Alice to live with an area family serving as a housekeeper to earn her room and board.

It was a challenging experience for Alice. She was homesick and knew few people, but found joy in discovery and new adventures. At the end of three quarters, Alice received a temporary teaching certificate and landed her first job in the Summer of 1951 at the Progress School in Golden Valley County. After five years of teaching, Alice’s beheld two momentous events — her marriage to James Sargent and the issuance of her Five-Year Elementary School Standard Certificate based on the diploma earned through Eastern Montana College.

Thanks to Mrs. Griswold and EMC, Alice had a professional job teaching. She had a contract and could support herself. Her salary allowed her to give some money back to her foster family as a thank you. And her first teaching job helped her cross paths with James, whose story of matriculation paralleled Alice’s.

This award is a tribute to Mrs. Girswold and the thousands of others who encouraged students to go to college and made the extra effort to get them there. James and Alice also express their gratitude to EMC for preparing so many young people to become educators themselves, giving them a bridge from scrubbing floors to the teacher’s desk in the classroom, throughout Montana and beyond.